Rankings
The Holy Alliance has numerous rankings and exceptions to rankings, all of which will be listed below! To prevent confusion, I have listed the ranks from highest to lowest. Keep in mind that these are pack rankings, and that the Holy Alliance is a group of packs and is NOT one huge clan, so each individual pack must have these rankings and MUST be comprised of primarily coyotes in order for the Holy Alliance to accept it, not to mention there must be some parallel ties regarding beliefs. LEADING PAIR;; Coyotes work in pairs, as well as mainly live in hunt in pairs, and the leading pair is usually the pair that founded the pack. They make final decisions that can only be changed if the majority of the pack members disagree with said decision. They are the leading force in organizing festivals, and also tell Readers when to host rituals and ceremonies as well as making pack meetings which is a meeting between the pack. DEN MOTHERS;; The Den Mothers are highly respected by all members of the pack and works as a mother for all the Pups - yes - all of them! Their decisions are held higher than the Pup's blood mother's ideas when it comes to raising the Pup, and the Pup may eventually grow to see the Den Mother as more of family than the Pup's blood family. Den Mothers are usually a pair of female coyotes, although it is not uncommon for it to be one male and one female, in which case the male would be known as a Den Father. The Den Mothers decide what happens to a Pup and can determine whether they should become Runners or not. It is also a Den Mother's responsibility to train Pups in lore, hunting, and beliefs. MENDERS;; Menders are senior Runners who have been given the opportunity by the Leading Pair to heal, fight, and hunt. In other words, they are Runners who continue Runner duties while also learning to heal. They have no spiritual duties. Menders and Runners can be in a pair together, if one coyote gets Mender duties and the other does not. However, the pairmate that is a Runner may not share Mender duties with the pairmate chosen to be a Mender. RUNNERS;; Runners are the regular members of the pack. If a new Runner is eventually found to be incapable of becoming a Runner, the Runner will be deranked and become a Pup again. Once the Den Mothers deem the Pup worthy of becoming a Runner once more, he or she will return to Runner duties. Runners fight and hunt, and are taught even more lore and legends from Menders or older Runners as they progress in their training. New Runners may have mundane duties such as fixing up dens or delivering water to elderly Runners who have retired. More experienced Runners share knowledge with the new Runners, or become Menders. Also, your permanent pairmate is chosen after your Runner ceremony. READER;; This coyote reads the spirits and performs rituals, often because he or she is the odd one out in the group who cannot hunt or fight but appears to have a close connection with nature. Unlike every other coyote in the pack, Readers do not have pairmates (permanent and/or temporary). Either he or she is too unskilled to fight, too old, or closely linked to the gods. Readers know everything about Festivals, the gods, and ceremonies, and gods may occasionally speak to them using physical forms on earth, although this is exceedingly rare. PUPS;; Pups are taken from their blood mothers to go and live with their Den Mothers at just two moons. While with the Den Mothers and in training to become a Runner, a Pup will choose a temporary pairmate in his pup years to train with. This temporary pairmate may or may not end up becoming permanent after a Runner ceremony. Usually Pups' pairmates are their siblings or friends, while a Runner or Mender's pairmate is more likely to be their romantic mate (although this does not mean friends and siblings cannot be pairmates into their Runner years). A Pup may be outcasted by the Den Mother and returned to the blood mother if the Den Mother finds the Pup too weak. LONERS;; Loners are either Pups that survived being outcasted by their blood and Den Mothers, a coyote exiled by the Leading Pair, or a coyote with no pair who is looking to join the HA but would like to take a look at them before they join. Loners cannot participate in Festivals, rituals, or ceremonies, they cannot hunt or eat with the pack until all other pack members are finished completely, and they generally do nto speak to any pack members. The pack claims no responsibility for them and they are no longer associated with the pack at all. THE IDEA OF PAIRS Coyotes hunt and travel in pairs in real life, so we thought we might incorporate this into roleplay. The coyote you are paired with is called your Pairmate. Your Pairmate can either be temporary or permanent, and if you do not have a Pairmate you will automatically be paired with someone else who doesn't have one, either. If everyone has a pair except you, you will join a pre-existing pair as a third coyote until another coyote without a pair comes along that you can pair up with. ALL members of the pack have a Pairmate, except newborn Pups, those whose Pairmate has died and they do not want to get a new Pairmate, and Readers. Pairmates can be your blood relation siblings too for eternity even when your mum and father dies, if this happens you dont have to get another pair mate as you have your sibling. Next page advised to read Fighting Mechanics and Tips